The present invention relates to magnetic pickups for stringed musical instruments and, more particularly, to a variable reluctance pickup system which requires no inductively coupled coils.
Many stringed musical instruments, most notably guitars, are presently provided with electronic amplification systems which employ mechanical-electrical transducers. These transducers, or pickups, include one or more permanent magnets fixedly or adjustably positioned with respect to the magnetically permeable strings so that the lines of magnetic flux are traversed by the vibrating string. A voltage is induced in a coil surrounding one or more magnets or pole pieces in accordance with the magnetic reluctance as determined by the frequency and amplitude of string vibration. Although many variations of magnet-coil configurations and couplings have been suggested in the prior art in order to improve or modify the sound output in some desired manner, it remains a costly and difficult operation to wrap the coils which are inductively coupled to the magnets.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a magnetic pickup in combination with a stringed instrument with improved sound reproducing qualities.
A further object is to provide a stringed instrument magnetic pickup having no inductively coupled coils, thus essesntially eliminating hum pick-up.
Another object is to provide a magnetic pickup which is more compact than conventional magnet-coil pickups while providing as good or better quality of sound reproduction.
A still further object is to provide a novel and improved electronic pickup for a stringed instrument having better frequency response, signal-to-noise ratio, and hum and noise rejection than conventional, inductive coil pickups.
Still another object is to provide a magnetic pickup for stringed instruments which is both reliable and relatively inexpensive to manufacture.
Other objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.